Fremont County in Colorado continues to assess and recover from a recent cyberattack, which affected county computer systems and resulted in the shutdown of all county buildings, which remain closed to date.
The cyberattack was discovered on August 17, but county officials didn’t announce it until August 19. It’s not clear whether the breach was part of a ransomware attack or if hackers targeted a specific service. Office computer systems have been affected, and county employees are unable to access their business emails due to the attack.
However, the county believes the attack is contained to their servers and has not spread to other local or state systems.
“Fremont County continues to prioritize our services to all constituents, and we plan to reopen piece by piece as different systems become available. We still are working to fully understand the impact of this incident that affected all county technology systems. We have a high level of comfort in our team’s knowledge and expertise, and know they are working overtime to have us fully operational again.” Debbie Bell, Fremont County Commissioner Chairperson, said in an update announcement.
All county buildings remain closed, including public health buildings. However, county officials have no timeline for reopening. Some services, like emergency 911 calls and COVID-19 testing, are still functional. The county is focused on bringing other rapid-response services back online.
“We are working to restore county services that were impacted by the cybersecurity event as quickly and safely as possible. We understand it can be very hard to wait, but please know we are waiting right alongside all of you. We also are seeking answers even as we are working around the clock to restore all county government services,” Bell said.
Fremont County’s Emergency Management team and the Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology have been mobilized as part of a joint incident response team, with support from various state and Federal partners.
